"Huh? Don't ya remember the computer sayin' some science mumbo-jumbo 'bout squids n' gravity? Somethin' about not bein' able to walk like normal damn people do in gravity."

"Yes, I remember that part...so? You intend to do what? Hack the colony?"

Chuckle

"Nah, not the entire colony, pal, though I could probably do that too! Luckily for us, I distinctly remember the computer also mentionin' that this here establishment is where the gravity is made, so hackin' the building will be just enough."

"Nah, not the entire colony, pal, though I could probably do that too! Luckily for us, I distinctly remember the computer also mentionin' that this here establishment is where the gravity is made, so hackin' the building will be just enough."

"You are sober, ri- *short pause, then fake-chipper* You know what? Good luck..."

Gene, I'll need you up here with me. There are a lot of turrets up there, and I don't want to take all of them on by myself!

"Will do, Brom. Let's see how well those alien turrets hold up to my shotgun of doom."

Load and pump the shotgun menacingly, then flank Brom as he approaches the Stellaplex.
If at any time myself or Brom is attacked while enroute to the Stellaplex, shoot the hostile no more than twice, then reload.
Once the Stellaplex is cleared of threats, help Brom prep it for extraction.
Once my teammates arrive for extraction, make sure the perimeter is secure.
If not, shoot at the nearest hostile once with my machine pistol, then reload.

"And after that we need a find a way to get Caleb along, and then we can go, if the squids are gonna leave the nacelle, I think..."

"I'd say most of us stay here and just one of us goes to inform the Nemesis.
They are going to take the whole nacelle with them after all, no reason to fly all the way back and leave the nacelle unguarded.
We can put the leftover squid stuff in the nacelle meanwhile. Get some extra knowledge and stuff out of the squids that way."

((Ishmael has the best maneuverability out of squad Beta, he should probably do the tricky parking))

outlander wrote:
"If not, I suppose we can ask our Esteemed Engineer for ideas. We need to transport his CASKET too, though - our dear prisoner is there."

"You landing clamp his casket and put it in the hold in the nacelle, carefully. The Nemesis techs can figure out how to get it out of there later"

((To the hiltorel who patched up their injured))"Hey you! You with the medigel! Could i please have some of that gel you were using on your injured? We ran out of bandaging material and some of us are still bleeding. Would you help a follow doctor out?"

if medigel gets supplied-patch ishmael's face with it, being frugal with it within reason-if theres enough left to try and patch up saoirse's leg.--approach her, look at her questioning and wait for approval to fix her up. If no approval, dont fix,--be careful and safe-for-work while fixing her up-pack up any leftover gel

get outside to the working AA gunthose things are mobile... so likely to be easy to take apart.. lets try thatremove the important components (fire control computer, energy supply, actual guns) and put them next to the remainder. Use the gravamp for support when necessary.

Brom is not a cleaning implement wrote:
I'm towards the rear of the complex, Buck. I've got a decent plan for eliminating the squids outside, but I'll need the rest of the squad to assist.
We're going to kick the gravity in the colony up a notch! ...Or twenty. Whatever it takes to turn the squids to goo."

"Then let's get it done already!" I have absolutely no intention to stay here! Damn, I should've stayed with beta!

Throw a last, anxious look back to the barrier.
Curse and run back to my harness
Grab it and get to Brom
Throw a look at the consoles
Curse the whole situation and the lack of time
Advance after Brom, keeping a few meters distance
When shots are fired
-Get into cover
-Load a sharp bolt
-Shoot at aggressors, with focus on hostile squishies
When Brom advances to the reactor with Vynkor's harness
-Get to the reactor
-prepare the harness for extraction
-activate the harnesses
If the harnesses do not need personal supervision
-get into cover in the greenery at the lower-right corner of the central room

"This is fuckin' OUTRAGEOUS! Them stinkin' squids dun know no damn civility - you never touch another man's ship without his permission! I'd expect nothin' more from them violent, alien savages!"

"C'mon, why ain't none of y'all doin' something about this!? Kill 'em or something! And where the heck is Brom? Did he really just run off again?"

Shout towards the inner parts of the building, forgetting that I have a mic and that it's still turned on: "BROOOOOOOOOOOM!"

"SWEET MOTHER OF- We have a comm system for a reason ya moron! I can hear you just fine!
You owe me a new pair of eardrums when we get back to the Nemisis!
Next time we do this, we'll hack the enemy comms and have Buck shout them to death!
Seems like a pretty effective plan if you ask me.

I'm towards the rear of the complex, Buck. I've got a decent plan for eliminating the squids outside, but I'll need the rest of the squad to assist.
We're going to kick the gravity in the colony up a notch! ...Or twenty. Whatever it takes to turn the squids to goo."

"Heh, you see, I was thinkin' the exact same thing!"

Make my way towards Bromif I get under ranged fire
-Get in coverif something attacks me in melee
-Retaliate with my baton (max times limited by my skill)
When I feel safe, take out my PDA and try to find out where the gravity controls are for this facility (and, if possible, if I can control them from the PDA)
Try and hack the gravity controlsif I succeed
-Double the strength of the gravity (make sure that they aren't using some kind of logarithmic scale)
-In case any of the following happens:
a) I feel physically impaired by the increased gravity
b) The building starts visibly buckling under the pressure
c) Vynkor's state significantly starts worsening as a result of the gravity
--Gradually decrease until no hazard is present anymore

"Alright! Glad we're on the same page!
Now enough wasting time, let's get to the Stellaplex already!
Gene, I'll need you up here with me. There are a lot of turrets up there, and I don't want to take all of them on by myself!
Buck, if you can't hack the controls, we'll just pull the plug on whatever machinery they happen to have in there.
After you're done, I want everyone here to help with the stellaplex. Gene and I will watch your backs."

Cautiously head into the large room in the back.
If I'm attacked at anytime, I will get into cover, set down the harness and return fire (firing no more than two shots per target and a maximum of four shots in total.)
When all encountered threats are disabled, I will get back up, grab Vynka's harness and continue cautiously onward to my objective.
Once I get to the stellaplex, look around to insure that all threats have been dealt with, and then try to get the stellaplex ready for extraction.
When the others arrive for extraction, get into cover near the left side opening of the room and fire at any hostile that comes through ((again, maximum of two shots per target, no more than 4 shots over the course of the entire turn.))

Gene, I'll need you up here with me. There are a lot of turrets up there, and I don't want to take all of them on by myself!

"Will do, Brom. Let's see how well those alien turrets hold up to my shotgun of doom."

Load and pump the shotgun menacingly, then flank Brom as he approaches the Stellaplex.
If at any time myself or Brom is attacked while enroute to the Stellaplex, shoot the hostile no more than twice, then reload.
Once the Stellaplex is cleared of threats, help Brom prep it for extraction.
Once my teammates arrive for extraction, make sure the perimeter is secure.
If not, shoot at the nearest hostile once with my machine pistol, then reload.

Hissing, cursing, and muttering about the squids, Buck turns and shouts (with his helmet on) in Brom's general direction: "BROOOOOOOOOOM!" He's clearly completely forgotten that he has a mic, and that it's turned on. The others, on the other hand, have not.

"SWEET MOTHER OF- We have a comm system for a reason ya moron! I can hear you just fine!" Brom shouts back. "You owe me a new pair of eardrums when we get back to the Nemisis!" This is interspersed with Frank's cry of "What in all hells is wrong with you?!?"

After even more back and forth bickering between the three surviving inmates (Gene being apparently mentally incapacitated and silent throughout the entire argument), they decide on a plan of action: they're going to make calamari. By that, I mean, of course, that they're going to double the gravity and hope they fall to the floor. Everyone seems to agree that it's a brilliant plan. In fact, Frank goes as far as to privately wished he'd stay with Beta, who were at least somewhat sane.

Buck laughs loudly, of course not hearing Frank's private thoughts. "Ya know, I was thinkin' the exact same thing, Brom!" he calls out, and then the group regroups. Frank grabs his discarded toolset, Gene reloads his shotgun, Brom readies his shield, and Buck swirls his baton - and they charge. Brom leads the way - as usual - by a fair distance. Thus, he's the one that gets shot at first.

Another turret up on the wall begins shooting lasers at him soon after he begins crossing into the central room. Brom ducks back into cover behind a rock, drops Vynkor's grav harness, and then fires a shot at the turret. He misses, but fortunately Gene, splashing through a small stream closer to the turret, pokes his head around a corner and shotguns the thing, turning it into a useless twisted mess of scrap metal. The group then proceeds as normal - with Frank frantically trying to reload his crossbow in the rear.

It thus isn't long before Alpha reaches the central structure. There are two more security turrets mounted on the domed ceiling: these emerge from concealment and begin firing laser streams at the group only after they've reached the center. Gene, out of cover, gets hit behind the knee and collapses with an anguished grunt, but manages to take out one of the turrets (after missing with his shotgun) using his machine pistol. Frank also manages to hit one of them, but it only glances off; Brom finishes it off with a final pistol shot after a forced reload. Then, with everything in the vicinity finally dead, the room falls silent but for the humming of computer equipment.

The stellaplex, encased in a massive machine, is set in the middle of the room in a tall tower, surrounded by a ring of computer equipment. More control panels its base contain all sorts of varied levers and buttons, most of which are marked in the classical flowing hiltorel script. All of them recognize it at once; it's long been embedded in humanity's culture. What they don't recognize is what any of it does. Fortunately, they don't have to. Using the simplistic pictographic instructions on the interiors of the grav harness casing, they strap one of the provided rectangular boxes - a piece of auto-hack equipment - onto one of the computer ports. A holographic progress bar appears over the front surface: "0%". It slowly, slowly begins to tick upwards, at the rate of 1% every five seconds.

In the meantime, Frank has taken both of the harness pieces, folded them out, and latched them together as per the pictographs. He pressed the buttons as instructed, and the harness - now a sort of platform - rose steadily into the air, to hover at about waist-height. Curious, Frank presses down on the surface. The thrusters beneath begin working harder, balancing it out perfectly: it doesn't budge. This lasts for about two seconds before suddenly, all hell breaks loose.

Yes, I did just say "all hell breaks loose". That might be an unexpected thing for me to say in this particular situation. Why? It's quite simple. The little group of Alpha (or what's left of it, having lost... let's see... Miranda, Lemons, Miles, and Vynkor (honestly, they're basically cursed) has retreated to the farthest room in the complex from either entrance and believes themselves to be perfectly safe. That much is certain. From the enemies, they might indeed be safe - at least for now. They aren't safe from themselves, however, and Buck has taken it upon himself to raise the gravity to 2x, having forgotten a very important thing.

The planet is already at 1g. The stellaplex is inverted and lowers the gravity to 0.5. This whole time, he and his teammates have been walking and working at half earth gravity. Doubling the gravity doesn't set it to earth gravity. It ends up turning off gravity entirely. While Buck has managed to cleverly and skillfully work his way through all the mysterious systems, methods and functions like only a drunken hacker can do... While Buck has managed to find the vast array of settings intended to manipulate said gravity field... While Buck has, indeed, managed to (against all odds) pinpoint the exact variable used to set the gravity...

...He has not, unfortunately, managed to turn it the right way.

Completely taken by surprise, the group finds themselves lifting off the floor. There are a few surprised shouts from the teammates as they realize that the gravity is gone - that Buck did something perhaps not entirely sane (again), and that things just became considerably more interesting. And here's the fun part: just a little too late, the hiltorel computer system detected an intruder and locked down the system. The entire hiltorel colony is now locked to 0g. The lights in the facility dim - some of them even go red, flashing as alien alarms blare that something has gone terribly wrong.

The REKT crew are now floating around the room, pulling themselves with their arms towards their desired cover positions. The water from the ponds and streams is beginning to drift in the air. The pumps in the fountains above the waterfalls are spitting out water in streams, horizontally into the air. Outside, the hiltorel near the ships ae probably finding things to be fairly interesting as well.

The autohacker's hologram displays the progress bar: 12%. This is going to take some time.

Just then, there's a loud crash from the right wing of the building, followed by a loud roar from the left. Alpha realizes they may have a very short amount of time before they're attacked.

And finally, adding one last dramatic stroke to all the rest of the Fun that Alpha gets to deal with:

"I have no clue what you shits just did, but you just made it IMPOSSIBLE to keep babysitting you little boys." It is, of course, the ever-lovely Anabais. "Every single one of them broke off from pursuing us to head back towards the colony. There's nothing else I can do here, so we're bugging out. What the fukcing hell did you do to piss them off?"

Shocked by the shout, I'm able to start moving again.
I move toward the stairs in that weird dream-slow way and begin descending them.
If I reach the bottom:
-I shoot thrice at the nearest enemy with the pistol.

((Hey, could you guys at least make sure the increased gravity won't rip Vynkor's arm off before turning it up? ))

"BROOOOOOOOOOOOM!" someone yells. Drunkenly. That means it's Buck. This stirs you enough that you're able to start moving again.

You move towards the stairs, and then start down the spiral. For a while, you travel downwards. You hear the others just in front of you. The lights in the staircase are the same color as the sky outside. Eventually though, you reach the bottom.

There's an underground tunnel. It's long and dark, but lit on the sides with torches the color of the Nanyejian sky. Brom and the others are under attack by drakedogs. In the dim light, you take aim at one of them and fire Brom's pistol at them. The sound echoes very loudly in the corridor.

"SWEET MOTHER OF -" Brom shouts at you. "You owe me a new pair of eardrums when we get back to the Nemesis! What in all hells is wrong with you?!?"

You pause. You thought they were attacking. They were not. In fact, Brom and the others are mounted on them. "The controls are this way," someone says, as the group in front of you begins to ride out on their mounts.

Suddenly you find yourself riding along with them. A hole in the arched passageway - a deep crevasse - reaches out, yawning, to swallow you. Your mounts twist onto the rounded sides of the tunnel and begin running swiftly along the ceiling.

Just as you pass over the crevasse, your legs slip; you weren't grasping the sides strongly enough. The great lizard plods on swiftly alone, but you - you remain. With a shout, you find yourself falling - tumbling - weightless - into the dark, black abyss. Into the unknown.

The lights retreat above and fade away into the distance until there's nothing left of them.

You are alone in the darkness. Falling.

A red glow emanates from nowhere in particular. It seems to envelop you. A moment passes - a strange droplet of time, trailing screams, sticky sweet like syrup - your world evolves.

((Dreamshift! You got some weird rolls so I just rolled (pun) with the punches. Where do you want to go with this? You're gonna be out for a while unless a miracle happens (maybe I'll let someone stab you to death or something?) so you might as well enjoy it. I'll let you go lucid at this point if you'd like.))

[redacted Irish muttering]
the kind of sigh you do to calm yourself downI look over at Caleb
"Well, at least you're nice to me...don't die, ok?
Also, given the uselessness of our medic, I'd like to borrow these - I'll give them back later. Promise."I take Caleb's coagulant boosters.
"One, two, three, four...five? And the sixth Bob got for his hand, so...Gearhead didn't give you one? Jeez..."I administer both myself and Caleb a coag
Then I take Caleb's painkillers.
"He probably didn't give you this either then. [more redacted irish muttering]I administer both myself and Caleb painkillers as well.

"Gearhead, esteemed engineer. Is Caleb all right? Also, would you have a look at my wound? The bleeding just won't stop."

"Everyone, our new best friends here say that those boxes - the ones with radiation sign on them - were to be used for bombing their settlement. I don't know what is going on, or how they got this information, but obviously, there's something fishy going on. Something we were not at all informed about. Something...unpalatable. We should keep that in mind.
But for now, I suggest we inform Nemesis about the mission's completion, and get ready to go."

"Ah, hold on, I'll bring you one of Caleb's coagulant boosters.
But...bombing Huhoba? Wasn't Nemesis here fighting that OWL thing, whatever that may be?
Can you ask them why they think we were here to bomb the colony?
Also, how are we gonna get Caleb back? I don't think he can fly, if his ship even still flies."

I hobble into the nacelle, towards the rest. I pointedly ignore Gearhead. I pick up the painkillers Caleb left behind there on the floor, and go give Ishmael a coagulant booster if he wants one.
Then I hobble back to my ship, get it, lift up and go land near where blinksquid's corpse is.
I wait for Bob to help me get his body in my cargo pod.
After he did, I thank him, get back in my ship, land it back near the nacelle.
Then I get out again, and try to figure out which of the ships outside belongs to the mercenaries and not to our new friends (either by asking them or by looking at them).
Then I go look at one of the mercenary ships and try to figure out if I could fly it.

Prelude: you and Bob discuss picking up a corpse.

You get to your feet and rest your gaze on Caleb's mangled form. "Well, at least you'e nice to me. Don't die, okay? Also..." you say, walking over to him, "given the uselessness of our medic, I think I'll borrow these. I'll give them back later. Promise." You take all of Caleb's painkillers (there's just one) and out of the goodness of your heart, inject it into his suit instead of yours. Then you steal a couple coagulant boosters and give yourself one. He gets the other one too, of course. He looks like he'll need it.

Then, you start heading into the nacelle, wondering about what Ishmael just said over the radio. "Bombing Huhoba? Wasn't Nemesis here fighting that OWL thing, whatever that may be?"

You hobble up the ramp, and down the corridor towards the room where you met the mystery dude, pick up the painkillers Caleb left there (you now have ALL his painkillers, minus the ones that got used): that's two. It's not two for long: you almost immediately give yourself an injection, meaning Caleb has only one painkiller left, and it's in your pockets. Then you continue inside and hand Ishmael a coagulant booster. There are a group of squids he's conversing with, and they're helping their hurt friend. All of them are walking towards the exit. You walk towards the exit too - faster, of course - and soon emerge, heading back to your ship. You then get in and fly over to Bob. Bob quickly deposits a squid-corpse in your CASKET, and you fly back, land, and walk over to the nearest squid-ship.

It's locked. It's also not alien - it's of human make. The hiltorel from in the nacelle don't seem to be interested in moving over to one of them, either. You think you could probably fly it without any trouble whatsoever - but it almost certainly won't be as agile as a CASKET, or as strong, or as fast... or have weapons. It's a civilian ship. Fortunately you still have your own CASKET to fly.

Walk back to the nacelle, pick up the box, walk back to my casket and put the box in my casket.
Then go grab the body of the squid that was teleporting around and put it in Saoirse's cargo pod

We done here Saoirse-Boss?

You walk back to the nacelle, get the box, go back to your CASKET, and put it in right in the middle of your seat. There's not much room to put it elsewhere. Then you head allll the way over to where Saoirse originally landed. All of this is quite a bit of walking, and it gives you a great amount of time to think.

But you're Bob. Bob doesn't think much. Instead you just chat with Jimmy and keep him company. He's good to have along.

When, eventually, you reach the place where the squid died, you stoop down to pick up his corpse so that you can put it in Saoirse's cargo pod when she arrives. It's ... really gross. You end up with your bandages soaked in blue squidjuice paste.

When Saoirse eventually lands, she opens her cargo pod, and you stuff it in and slam it shut.

Your hand is beginning to throb again. It's just barely there, but you can almost feel the pain increasing by the second. It seems a lot worse now than it did before.

"Ah, hold on, I'll bring you one of Caleb's coagulant boosters.
But...bombing Huhoba? Wasn't Nemesis here fighting that OWL thing, whatever that may be?
Can you ask them why they think we were here to bomb the colony?
Also, how are we gonna get Caleb back? I don't think he can fly, if his ship even still flies."

"Many thanks, Esteemed Warrior. May your pasta bowl never be empty. I shall ask our Hiltorei friends about the bombing. As for Caleb, maybe he can use one of the civilian ships here - they should be easier to handle than a CASKET. If not, I suppose we can ask our Esteemed Engineer for ideas. We need to transport his CASKET too, though - our dear prisoner is there."

Speak to the Hiltorei:
"Me and the friends I've been blessed with - all of us were taken out of the cryosleep after our ship went down. I honestly tell you that we do not know what our mission was. Our superiors did not have any details, either. I do not think it was to bomb your city - those boxes do not look like the kind of weapons we would use. But I don't know..."
Make a dramatic pause.
Give the Hiltorei a nudge with my Charismatic Amp.
"Please, tell me your side of the story."

Once squids are done talking,
Promise them that I'll get to the truth behind it.

Then tell them that, regretfully, it is time for them to leave, as the nacelle is about to be recovered.
Tell them to board their ships and wish them safe journeys.

Walk around the place, see if there are any doors leading deeper into the nacelle.
If there are any, check what's behind them.

IF there are no doors I can open,
Go to my CASKET and enter it.

IF attacked,
Take cover.

You walk out of the nacelle with the little group of spaghetti-kin, whom are walking quite slowly. Their doctor is having a spat with Gearhead. You pay little attention, too busy talking to Saoirse over the comms. "Many thanks, esteemed warrior," you say in grandiose fashion. Your airs raise eyebrows - or might, if hiltorel had eyebrows. "May your pasta bowl never be empty! I shall ask our Hiltorei friends about the bombing. As for Caleb, maybe he can use one of the civilian ships here - they should be easier to handle than a CASKET. If not, I suppose we can ask our esteemed engineer for ideas. We need to transport his CASKET, too, though - our dear prisoner is there."

Saoirse shows up very shortly after you finish the little speech, hands you a coag booster, and disappears. You gratefully administer yourself one by jamming it into one of the ports on the port side of your portly suit. Then you toss the empty syringe aside with a grand flourish (it shatters on the wall) and turn to the hiltorel friends. "My dear friends. I, and my blessed teammates, were taken out of the cryosleep after our ship went down. I honestly tell you that we do not know what our mission was. Our superiors did not have any details either. I do not think it was to bomb your city - those boxes do not look like the kind of weapons we would use. But I don't know..." You're really just fibbing here. You have no idea what kind of weapons Tartarus Inc. would use. You barely remember anything beyond being taken to Tartarus in the first place. A dirty cell, sure. Given sedatives, vaguely. After that? Not a thing.

You make a dramatic pause while you collect your thoughts.

"Please, tell me your side of the story," you say, giving the anger-squid a nudge with your charisma amp.

As your group walks towards the exit ramp, anger-squid shrugs. "I do not know," he says. "Rumor was, Tartarus plan kill Huhoba with deadly virus bomb-boxes. Some say virus. Some say ... boom things. Fire? Big fire." He stumbles, not knowing the word "explosives", and then finally makes a gesture with his hands (all four of them) to indicate a bomb falling followed by an explosive blast. You nod. It gets the point across well enough. "Then ship part fall, we stop it from crash. We look inside - we see many bomb-box. Rumor is true. But is okay - Huhoba got warning in time. Many flee. Then when you ship crash, many came back." He nods quietly, as though he's revealed something monumental.

With a show of regret, you nod and say, "It is time for us, and you, to leave. This part of our ship is going to be recovered soon. You should board your ships and head back to OWL. I wish you safe journeys."

Squid-man shakes his head. "We not with OWL. We just ... We be... are..." He pauses, discomfited: he's missing another word. You wave him off and motion for him to continue, rather than embarrassing himself trying to figure it out. "We came on cargo ship, then cargo ship left too soon. We wait here for it. Will be fine, can't be too long. Food stores here too, can set up a camp. All will be good." He seems averse to the idea of coming back with you, and for good reason. He seems to trust you guys (with strong reservations) but he clearly does not trust Tartarus Inc. And after all, who would?

You walk back inside, briefly, to see if there's anything else inside you missed. There isn't, really. Just some rooms filled with more boxes and crates, and even more debris. There's possibly more interesting things on the upper floors, but you can't exactly get there, so you head back to your CASKET and climb in.

I fix my eyes on the table in front of me, unable to meet my father's disapproving gaze. I want to burst out. I want to just tell him off, to spill my guts. He must be disappointed because I failed them. I know I shouldn't be here. I should be back on Anba, with them. But here I am. They died, and I lived...

Or maybe...he's seen battle. He must know at least something of what this is like. But I've never seen him hang his head. Not once. He's always been proud, confident.

That's when it hits me. He's not disappointed because I failed. He's disappointed because of what I'm making of it.

I hesitantly raise my eyes to him, looking him in the eyes and attempting to square my shoulders a bit. "I think I understand, Dad. I might have failed my platoon earlier on Anba...but I'm failing them all over again by acting like this. I can't let this beat me down. I can't let this control me. If I just mope about what happened, I'll never do any better...but I can do better. You always kept ramming that into my head as a kid. I think I know why, now..."

I look at him, more confidently. "It won't happen again. I'll make sure of it. I owe my platoon that much, at least."

If I wake up this turn, I groggily attempt to sit up and take stock of my surroundings and injuries. I call out to the squad on the comms channel. "Hey guys, this is Caleb. I just woke up, but...I'm not sure I can walk. What's going on?"

You look at the table in front of you, unable to meet your father's gaze. He continues looking at you sternly. "I am disappointed," he had said. You want to burst out, to tell him off. You failed them, sure. You know you shouldn't be there. You should be back on Anba, but here you are. They died, you lived. It's simple as that. You... well, you feel like you abandoned them. Like a coward. Right when they needed you most.

Maybe your dad has seen battle, though. Perhaps he knows at least something of what this is like. But you've never seen him hang his head. Not once. He's always been proud, confident.

The skies outside the window are growing darker, as though it's dusk. It starts to grow darker in the kitchen as a result. Your parents think nothing of it. Your mother gently pats your hand.

That's when it hits you. He's not disappointed because you failed. He's disappointed because of what you're making of it.

You hesitantly raise your head, meeting his gaze and attempting to square your shoulders. "I think I understand, Dad. I might have failed my platoon earlier on Anba... but I'm failing them all over again by acting like this." His expression doesn't change. "I can't let this beat me down. I can't let this... control me. If I just mope about what happened, I'll never do any better, but I can do better. You always kept ramming that into my head as a kid. I think I know why, now."

The darkness outside the window is accelerating - fast enough that you can see it change. It doesn't feel unusual.

You look at your dad again, this time more confidently - more sure of yourself. "It won't happen again. I'll make sure of it. I owe my platoon that much, at least..."

And then, just before the sky snuffs itself out, and all the light in your kitchen, you see the faintest hint of - on your dad's face - a smile.

Darkness.

Your mother pats your hand. Silence reigns in the kitchen. Not even the lights in the other rooms are on. You can't hear anyone else moving or even breathing, but you know they're there; you feel their presence.

A voice: your father's. "I am proud of you, Caleb."

~~~

The lights outside the kitchen window begin to brighten, but this time, everything is a blur. You grasp your mom's hand and give it a squeeze; you feel her squeeze your hand back, but can't see her. You turn your head in her direction, but everything remains blurred. It's still a bit dark for daytime...

You realize, suddenly: You can't recall your father ever saying he was proud of you.

Your eyes flick open.

You're lying next to a stack of crates, still in the shadow of the nacelle. That means they haven't picked it up yet, which means you still might have time to look for the others. You glance around, searchingly, hoping to find someone - but you don't see anyone at all that you know. And your legs burn with a horrible, dull ache. Didn't you take a painkiller before? Is it starting to wear off?

Following this, you figure out a few different things.

Your legs are bandaged up with a mess of duct tape and bandages. There's a splint, too. Did you break a leg? What the hell happened?

All your painkillers are gone. All of them. A lot of your other syringes are missing too.

Your squadmates suck balls. No, really. There's a used anti-shock syringe sticking out of one of the medical ports on the chest of your suit, and they didn't even stick around to see you wake up. Great times, man. Great times.

You feel really weak and dizzy, and there's a lot of blood on the ground around you. A lot of it. It's probably yours.

"And after that we need a find a way to get Caleb along, and then we can go, if the squids are gonna leave the nacelle, I think..."

"I'd say most of us stay here and just one of us goes to inform the Nemesis.
They are going to take the whole nacelle with them after all, no reason to fly all the way back and leave the nacelle unguarded.
We can put the leftover squid stuff in the nacelle meanwhile. Get some extra knowledge and stuff out of the squids that way."

((Ishmael has the best maneuverability out of squad Beta, he should probably do the tricky parking))

outlander wrote:
"If not, I suppose we can ask our Esteemed Engineer for ideas. We need to transport his CASKET too, though - our dear prisoner is there."

"You landing clamp his casket and put it in the hold in the nacelle, carefully. The Nemesis techs can figure out how to get it out of there later"

((To the hiltorel who patched up their injured))"Hey you! You with the medigel! Could i please have some of that gel you were using on your injured? We ran out of bandaging material and some of us are still bleeding. Would you help a follow doctor out?"

if medigel gets supplied-patch ishmael's face with it, being frugal with it within reason-if theres enough left to try and patch up saoirse's leg.--approach her, look at her questioning and wait for approval to fix her up. If no approval, dont fix,--be careful and safe-for-work while fixing her up-pack up any leftover gel

get outside to the working AA gunthose things are mobile... so likely to be easy to take apart.. lets try thatremove the important components (fire control computer, energy supply, actual guns) and put them next to the remainder. Use the gravamp for support when necessary.

You calmly address the hiltorel who patched up their injured. "Hey you! You with the medigel! Could I please have some of that gel you were using on your injured? We ran out of bandaging material and some of us are still bleeding. Would you help a fellow doctor out?"

He stares at you blankly, a little irritated-looking. He doesn't seem to like your tone.

You fight the urge to strangle him and begin to pantomime being a doctor, having injured patients, running out of bandages, and the philosophic concept of nihilism. Then you point meaningfully at his medigel. "Medigel," you say slowly, as though to a small child. "Me-di-gel. Give. Now."

The doctor looks at you like you're insane and bursts out at you with a chatter in hiltorelese while the other squid lifting their injured friend tries (utterly in vain) to calm him down. He flings his arms about in overly exaggerated motions (you can feel the sarcasm emanating from him and you don't even have a clue what he's saying) and when you try to reach for the medigel packaging he jerks it away from you and starts dressing you down again. Apparently whatever he's saying is clever and he's making excellent comebacks, and his squid friends start laughing. Even the one missing two of his tentacles smiles, despite being in pain. Then he goes off on another ranting rampage where he actually has the audacity to mock your pantomime with even more exaggerated movements, before waving two hands at you in a very clear motion that can only mean, "Begone, churl. I shall not suffer fools today."

Apparently you have somehow managed to greatly insult him, his family, and his ability as a doctor. Well done.

You leave and go outside to the last working AA gun. These things are mobile, you reason, so that means that perhaps it's easy to take apart. You'd like to give that a try.

~~~

Within barely any time at all you have a neat pile: the fire control computer, some of the various bits and pieces here and there, the entire energy supply (using your gravamp to support), various cables and such, something that seems to be a laser targeter, some shock springs, and a lot of other mess. You use your grav amp to try to lift the barrel to get it undone but it seems to come apart in several pieces, and you're not exactly sure how to get that figured out. Regardless, you have a good deal of loot and bits and pieces now. The power supply looks particularly potent - and it's quite warm, in fact.

"I have no clue what you shits just did, but you just made it IMPOSSIBLE to keep babysitting you little boys." It is, of course, the ever-lovely Anabais. "Every single one of them broke off from pursuing us to head back towards the colony. There's nothing else I can do here, so we're bugging out. What the fukcing hell did you do to piss them off?"

"Well we just thought we'd help out by doing our job. Apparently our tentacled friends don't like it when we mess with their stellaplex.
Who would have guessed, right? Anyway, it's going to be a while before we're finished hacking. Do you think you could maybe thin out the approaching ships in the meantime? Also if you could fly someone down to contact Beta for us, that'd be great. I'm sure that's not too much of a hassle."

*To Alpha*
"That was a stupendous job you did with the alarm, Buck.
Now instead of fighting a squad, we'll have to fight an army!
What fun that will be.
Now I've got to find a way out of the mess we're in. Anyone have any ideas?
Preferably ones that don't end in death?"

"Oh hey guys, this is a human ship! We can just let someone fly it instead of Caleb's casket... if we can get it open, it's locked."*light bulb appears over my head*I take out my PDA and use it to make an electrical scan of the locking mechanism of the ship.
Then I analyse the circuitry and use my electro amp to pour a bit of current in the correct circuit to make the ship unlock.

If unsuccessful in unlocking the ship, I very reluctantly ask Gearhead for help, and send him the data from the electrical scans when asked to.I don't like him, but getting Caleb back safely is more important...

Once the ship is open, go help Ishmael and Bob get Caleb in the ship with application of gentle 0.5 g upwards gravity fields, if needed.
I also give Caleb the remainder of his meds back.
Then I hobble back to my ship and get in.
If Bob did not manage to attach the box to his CASKET, I fly over to where he left it, land and get out.
Then I put the box in my cargo pod (if there still is room) or attach it to my CASKET using the netting and electromagnets.
Then I get back in my ship and lift off again.

If everyone is ready, I start flying back towards the Nemesis with Caleb.

Last edited by Dinosawer on Wed Jul 04, 2018 12:09 am, edited 5 times in total.

*To Alpha*
"That was a stupendous job you did with the alarm, Buck.
Now instead of fighting a squad, we'll have to fight an army!
What fun that will be.
Now I've got to find a way out of the mess we're in. Anyone have any ideas?
Preferably ones that don't end in death?"

*Halfway hysterical*

"You don't have a plan?!? We're all going to die! Even if we surrendered they'd kill us on sight!"

"Oh hey guys, this is a human ship! We can just let someone fly it instead of Caleb's casket... if we can get it open, it's locked."

"Our Esteemed Engineer here should be able to force the lock...right, Gearhead? And then we should be able to carry Caleb into one of the ships."

"Caleb, I am glad you are all right. The Lord is not ready to invite you to his feast just yet. By His endless mercy, you shall live on. I shall help you into one of the civilian ships, so don't worry. Our mission here is about done, and it's time for us to start heading back to the Nemesis."

Fly towards where Caleb is,
and carefully land near the entry into the nacelle.
Exit the CASKET.
See if any of the dead squids who were manning (squidding?) AA turrets still have a working antigrav belt.
IF such a belt is found, take it and put it on Caleb, and turn it on.
Use my Gravity Amp to reduce gravity along the path Bob and Caleb take to the ship (up to three times; chain the low-g areas if needed instead of trying to make one big area).
IF needed, help Bob to carry Caleb to the ship.
Help Caleb into the ship, if needed.

Walk around and look for interesting and Noodly stuff.
IF any stuff is found, put it into the nacelle somewhere safe.
Check if civilian ships have magnetic clamps.

((edited))

Last edited by outlander on Mon Jul 02, 2018 2:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.

"I have no clue what you shits just did, but you just made it IMPOSSIBLE to keep babysitting you little boys." It is, of course, the ever-lovely Anabais. "Every single one of them broke off from pursuing us to head back towards the colony. There's nothing else I can do here, so we're bugging out. What the fukcing hell did you do to piss them off?"

"Well we just thought we'd help out by doing our job. Apparently our tentacled friends don't like it when we mess with their stellaplex.
Who would have guessed, right? Anyway, it's going to be a while before we're finished hacking. Do you think you could maybe thin out the approaching ships in the meantime? Also if you could fly someone down to contact Beta for us, that'd be great. I'm sure that's not too much of a hassle."

*To Alpha*
"That was a stupendous job you did with the alarm, Buck.
Now instead of fighting a squad, we'll have to fight an army!
What fun that will be.
Now I've got to find a way out of the mess we're in. Anyone have any ideas?
Preferably ones that don't end in death?"

Fawkes wrote:
*Halfway hysterical*

"You don't have a plan?!? We're all going to die! Even if we surrendered they'd kill us on sight!"

"I have a plan - we wait in here, ready our weapons, and shoot the shit out of anythin' that comes in!"

"I have a plan - we wait in here, ready our weapons, and shoot the shit out of anythin' that comes in!"

Next he'll accidently break something else important! I need to get out of here!

*Fearful whine at the prospect of Buck having a plan*

Flail around a bit more
Stop flailing and throw hounded looks around, searching for possible weak-spots in the ceiling
If one is found and it's big enough for the Stellaplex harness-construction
-Load a sticky/reel bolt and use it to get to said weakspot
-Rig up an explosive frame with explosive bolts and duct tape
-Cable the triggers to another cable reel for remote-detonation
-Get back into the corner I started from (Take the trigger-reel with me)
Hesitantly get into the position Brom specified and load an explosive bolt (If none left, load sharp instead)
Whine: "This'll get us all killed right away!"
Manually stick a sticky/reel bolt on the ground next to me
use that anchor to stay in cover
When enemies appear in the right wing
-Shoot at the first one once with the pre-loaded bolt
-reload explosive bolt (or sharp if no explosives left)
If shots are heard from the right wing
-wince and hope that vynkor somehow survives this

Last edited by F4wk35 on Tue Jul 03, 2018 12:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.